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U.S. grants to help protect Cumberland shoreline

From staff and wire reports
Published 12:50 p.m. ET June 16, 2014

This Nov. 15, 2012 photo shows a beach club destroyed by Superstorm Sandy on the sea wall in Sea Bright N.J. The U.S. Department of the Interior awarded more than $102 million in grants on Monday, June 16, 2014 to 11 states for protection against future storms. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)(Photo: Wayne Parry, AP)

Communities along the Delaware Bay in Cumberland County are among places in 11 states that will share $102.7 million in grants from the federal government to protect against future storms.

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resilience Grant Program will fund a variety of projects to protect communities at risk from future big storms like Sandy, which devastated the Garden State in October 2012. The money comes from a Superstorm Sandy relief bill passed by Congress.

The Interior Department said the projects will restore an estimated 6,634 acres of wetlands and marshes; 225 acres of beach; 364 acres of tidal buffers, and 16 miles of streams. The efforts will also open 287 miles of streams to fish passage, and restore 147 acres of flood plains.

New Jersey has the largest number of approved projects at 13.

One federal grant, for $4.75 million, will help pay for a $5.6 million project to restore 50 acres of Delaware Bay wetlands and six miles of beach in Cumberland and Cape May counties. The project aims to improve horseshoe crab spawning; provide a stopover area for migrating shorebirds; and improve ecological and economic community resilience. In Cumberland County, that restoration work will occur at Gandy’s/Money Island Beach, Roadway Beach between Fortescue and Oyster Creek, East Point Lighthouse Beach and Moores/Thompsons Beach, according to LoBiondo.

Another grant will provides $3.4 million in federal money for reusing dredge materials to restore 90 acres of salt marsh in Fortescue, Avalon and Stone Harbor. The state Department of Environmental Protection will lead the project, whose overall price tag is $8.2 million. The goal is to reduce vulnerability to flooding and erosion in the communities, and to provide enhanced wildlife habitats.

“It has long been known that South Jersey’s environmental treasures support critical fishing and oystering industries, provide vital habitats for wildlife such as the red knots, and serve as a natural buffer to protect residents and businesses from storm surges,” U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2, said in a news release. “Restoring and strengthening wetlands and marshes post-Sandy will help minimize future storm damage while promoting the economic livelihoods dependent on our region’s physical attractions.”

Other New Jersey projects include improving water quality in the 1.1-million acre Pinelands region, and restoring wetlands in Newark Bay, Great Egg Harbor Bay and Little Egg Harbor.

“We’ve seen the vulnerability in the communities where Sandy hit,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the New Jersey-based American Littoral Society. He said projects such as the ones funded Monday are indicative of “reshaping our relationship with the coast in anticipation of the next storm.”

The competition for the grants began last year on the anniversary of Sandy. Recipients are putting up $72 million in matching funds for part of the work.

“We know we have a lot to learn from Mother Nature,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said. “Climate change is going to make weather events more frequent and more severe.”

Jewell said natural infrastructure like wetlands and dunes provide the best protection against storms.

The Interior Department says the projects will create 600 jobs in local communities, and that young people and veterans will be given special consideration in hiring.